In the Dark
by Ktkat9
Summary: AU. Jack and Crow are aspiring turbo duelists who just moved into a new house in a small town. Everything seemed to be going their way, until they met Yusei, and learned just how fast everything can be taken away, and just what it means to be brothers.
1. Chapter 1

The house had been empty for six months. That's what they were told. It was a beautiful, two- story farmhouse. There was a large oak tree outside the living room window, with a small, old well right underneath it. A tiny, wooden fence separated the house and yard from the rest of the property. Namely, four and a half acres of farmland and five and a half acres of forest. As it was situated at the top of a hill, the view led straight down to the small, quiet town below. All in all, in looked almost like something from a holiday card.

"Man, would you check out this view. I mean, why was this place so cheap?" Crow, a hot- tempered, red headed teen leaned against the fence. The two rings in his headband glinted in the sun.

"All I know, Crow, is that it was cheap enough for us to buy. Now come give me a hand." Jack, a tall, proud, blonde teen demanded, bringing boxes into the house. The two brothers were aspiring turbo duelists, and had chosen to move to this particular small town because of the turbo duel stadium located just inside the neighboring city.

"Okay." Crow spun and grabbed the smallest box he saw, before bolting past his brother and into the house. "I call first pick of the bedrooms!"

 _"Crow!_ I already called first pi-" He broke off when he heard something moving in the bushes nearby. _"Oi!_ Who's there?"

"Jack? What's wrong?" Crow stuck his head back out the door. Jack turned to look at him, and, apparently, that was all the time that was needed for whoever it was to escape. They heard the roar of an engine and caught sight of a yellow car as it tore down the road. "Huh. Must have been one of our new neighbors. I wonder when we'll get to meet them- _Jack! Get back here! I called first pick!"_

"I called it first! And seniority rules!" Jack ran into the first bedroom he came to and slammed the door.

"No, it doesn't! it just goes grey first!" Crow pounded on the door, then huffed and stomped into the next room over. " _Fine!_ I wanted this one anyway!"

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Jack had fallen asleep later then usual, but with moving, unpacking, filing a complaint with the movers about a lost box, and the almost- brawl that had broken out in the kitchen over his culinary skills, it hadn't been as late as it could have been.

Crow was snoring in the next room over, and Jack was dreaming of winning trophies, expensive coffee, and cheap ramen in the dueling arena, when someone opened the door to his room. The blonde was unaware, of course, as he was still signing autographs for a random mob. A random mob that vanished when a firm hand roughly gripped his shoulder, instantly pulling him away from the spotlights and camera flashes, back to the dark, lightless room.

"Who are you and what the Hell are you doing in my room?" Jack's eyes flew open and focused on the intruder.

"Who the heck-"

"I'll ask the questions, thank you very much. Now answer me." The boy demanded. Jack narrowed his eyes, as the intruder didn't appear much younger than himself. The boy wore a black and red shirt, and . . . Jack sat up in shock.

Something was on the boy's head. Something dark and wet. He appeared to be bleeding heavily from his head. And he didn't seem to notice.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 _"Crow!_ Wake up." Jack pounded on his brother's door. He had just finished making sure their 'guest' was alright, when he remembered that the redhead would probably want to be informed. He heard a groan from the other side, and then footsteps.

"This had better be good." Was his brother's greeting when he opened the door, rubbing one eye blearily. Jack almost laughed at his appearance. For once, he lacked his headband, whish caused his red hair to flop everywhere. But he didn't laugh. Now was not the time.

"It's a long story, but right now, I need your help."

Crow blinked, suddenly alert. Jack hardly ever looked so serious, but when he did, something was very wrong.

"Someone's here. He's down in the kitchen."

Crow nodded and followed his brother. Downstairs, leaning against the counter and looking royally pissed, was the intruder. He was slightly shorter than Crow, with a criminal mark of his own below his left eye. Half of his black and blonde hair was mated down to the side of his head, but his blue eyes looked completely alert.

"Yusei, this is my brother, Crow. Crow, this is Yusei. Yusei claims to live here."

Crow blinked. "You live here? For how long?"

"Ever since I was six. This house belongs to me and my brothers."

"You and you're . . ." he sighed and held up his hands. "Okay. It is way too late at night for this. There has obviously been some miscommunication somewhere along the line. When my brother and I bought this house, we were told that nobody had lived here for six months."

Yusei narrowed his eyes. "Six months? That's impossible. That would mean that nobody's been here since spring. We didn't move out in spring. We haven't moved out at all. And speaking of which, where's all of our stuff? And my brothers? Where the hell-,"

As Yusei was gradually gaining volume, Jack was busy doing the mental math. "Yusei," he narrowed his eyes and held up his hand, gaining the smaller teen's attention.

" _What?"_

"You must have hit your head harder than I thought. Are you sure you don't feel dizzy?"

"Wait, he hit his head? What do you mean? I know I'm still half asleep, but I feel like I missed something kind of important."

Jack glanced at his brother, not exactly wanting to fill him in, but knowing he had no choice. He sighed. "Yusei woke me up about twenty minutes ago. He was bleeding pretty badly from his head, but claimed to have not been aware of it." Crow glanced at the teen, looking slightly suspicious. "Nor does he recall hitting his head on anything." Jack turned back to the glaring boy, curious and slightly worried. "What month is it? Like, right now?"

Yusei narrowed his eyes. "September, why?"

"September?" Crow's eyes bugged out. "Dude, its March!"

"What are you trying to pull? I just looked at the calendar last night and it said 'September' as clear as da-," he broke off as Jack held out his phone. The calendar was pulled up on the screen, showing it to be March 18, 2046. "W-what the hell?" Yusei's eyes were wide and his face paled considerably. "What the hell is going on? I-I just looked at the calendar yesterday. I swear, it said September 4, 2045. How," he stepped back, looking at them pleadingly, "how is this possible?"

Crow opened his mouth to respond with a sympathetic 'I don't know,' but then he noticed something. Shocked, he closed his mouth and took a step towards the now shaking teen, trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"I think I know how it's possible." He said after a minute. He lifted his hand, and, while Jack and Yusei looked on in horror, thrust it forward, right through Yusei's chest. After an initial exclamation of surprise, Jack realized something. Something that made his blood run cold. Crow's hand had passed right through, but there was no blood, no sound, not even any resistance when his hand had entered. Not only that, but he suddenly realized that he, however faintly, could see the wall that Yusei was standing in front of.

Yusei was a ghost.

The moment of stunned silence was over in an instant when Crow withdrew his hand and yawned. "Not that this hasn't been entertaining, but I'm going back to sleep." As he turned and walked out of the room, they heard him they heard him muttering about 'no more pizza before bed'.

Jack listened as his footsteps made their way up the stairs, then a door closed and he looked back at Yusei. The boy was now frozen. His eyes were, if possible, even wider, and his face was deathly pale, no pun intended.

Slowly, almost mechanically, he reached one hand up and touched his chest, right where Crow's hand had been.

'Crow,' Jack thought, almost absently, 'I'm pretty sure we just found out why the house was so cheap.'

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Okay, so I'm just putting this out here. I always wanted to do a murder mystery, and I have this mostly all outlined, so please let me know what you think! Do you have any questions? Guesses? I would love to hear them! Also, sorry, and I know that this is a bit of a jerk move, but I am posting this right before I go on break, so there will be no updates until school lets back in. that said, please let me know what you think of this! And who, if not Crow and Jack, are Yusei's brothers? Hint: I have ZERO OC's in this.


	2. Chapter 2

Crow blinked the sleep from his eyes. Morning had come. 'Man,' he thought, standing and stretching, 'what a dream that was; a ghost living here. Of course, I guess it wouldn't really count as _living_ , per say.' He chuckled and shook his head, pulling on a clean shirt. He slipped on his headband and headed downstairs or breakfast.

"Morning, Jack. How'd you sleep?" His brother, busy with the coffee maker, barely acknowledged his presence. "I had the strangest dream last night-," He broke off when he noticed the other person in the kitchen, staring at him. "You." He swallowed thickly and took a step back. "You must be one of our new neighbors. A-and I saw you yesterday. And . . . and then had a dream about-," at this point, he was desperately trying to convince himself.

Yusei stood up from the table and walked over to stand in front of him. "Last night you stuck your hand through my chest. Trust me, that was no dream."

Crow took in a breath. "That . . . that was real?" Yusei closed his eyes and nodded stiffly. "Wow." The redhead sank back against the counter. "W-what happened?"

Yusei bristled slightly at that. "I didn't even know I was dead. Forgive me for not knowing _how_ I died."

"Well, you're not still here, are you? I mean, like, we're not going to just happen across your . . . body, right?"

Yusei looked at him for a moment, and then glanced at Jack, as if to see if Crow was serious. "Well, actually, I believe my arm is buried under the floorboards right over . . . there." He pointed to the area by Crow's feet.

The reaction was instantaneous. He screamed and bolted up onto the counter as fast as he could.

"Oh, get down from there, Crow! He was just kidding. Right, Yusei?" Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Keep in mind; the last thing I remember is being alive. One minute, I'm getting ready for a date, the next, its six months in the future, strangers are living in my house, and my brothers are no . . . where." He broke off and blinked hard. "You, um, wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you? Whether or not they're d-," he stuttered and took a breath, "d-dead, too?"

Jack and Crow looked at each other. "We'll try to find out, alright? And don't worry. I'm sure they're fine." Crow tried to reassure him.

Yusei nodded. "Thank you, um, Crow, right?"

The duelist smiled and stuck out a hand. "Yup."

Yusei eyed the hand for a moment, and then reached his own up to take it. And, as Crow was shocked to realize, it felt real. Freezing cold, but corporeal all the same. "Yusei Fudo."

Yyyyy

"I'm telling you, I know what I felt!" Crow insisted.

"Crow, last night, your hand went completely through his chest. What are you trying to say? That he's now somehow alive?"

"No. I heard that spirits that were never laid to rest will sometimes be able to move objects."

"Okay, wait. Are you saying there's a corpse somewhere in our house?"

"I'm saying there's a very good possibility."

Jack sighed and shook his head. As if he didn't already have enough to deal with. The two were currently walking into town to look for work. Sure, they made money off their dueling, but as the (albeit very skilled) rookies they were, they needed extra means of income to support their careers. "Look, let's hold off on this conversation until we're no longer in public. Right now, let's just try to find jobs."

"Right. And should we ask about Yusei's brothers while we're out? Um, Kalin and . . . Randy? No, Rally!" Crow chuckled awkwardly.

"I don't know. I know it's important to Yusei and all, but maybe we should wait until we get the Internet hooked up at home. I mean, if we just ask people in town, that's going to raise all sorts of questions. We wouldn't even know about them if it weren't for Yusei, and why would we be asking about two teens who lived here six months ago?"

"We could say we found some of their things and wanted to return them-,"

"And suppose they are still in the area and want to come over to get their 'things' that we don't have?"

Crow sighed. "Well, how about we say we're just curious about the people who lived in that house before us and wanted to know why they left?"

"Fine. That sounds plausible. I still think we should just wait and get online when we can, but you can ask around."

"'Kay. I think I'll meet you back at home. See ya."

Yyyyy

"Hello?" Jack knocked on the open garage door, not wanting to enter without knowing if anyone was in or not. He had heard that people in small towns occasionally left their doors unlocked due to trusting all of their neighbors.

"Hello. Can I help you?" A young boy (. . . or girl, as 'he' was wearing a dress) appeared from a room in the back. She/he sounded like a boy, but had long, curly, red hair.

"Uh, yes. I'm new in town and was just wondering if you do repairs on duel runners."

"We do. Is yours custom?"

"Yes." Jack replied as the other pulled something up on a computer.

"Okay. We're going to need the schematics and any specialty parts will have to be added to your bill. Is it with you?"

"Not at the moment. I just wanted to know if there was going to be a place to take it. My brother and I are going to be competing at the track in-,"

"Let me guess. New Domino?"

"Yeah. How did-,"

"I know?" He/ she didn't even look at him. "You're not the only aspiring duelists in this town, y'know. And before you ask, yes, I know you're nowhere near pro. If you were, you wouldn't be in our little one-horse town looking to get repairs at the smallest shop around."

"Alright. Is there anything about me you don't know?"

"Your name and address. Speaking of which, we run deals on occasion. Would you like to be put on our mailing list?"

"Sure. My name's Jack Atlas." He gave his address and watched as the kid froze and paled.

"O-oh. Okay. Thank you." There was a moment of awkward silence, and then, "If you find anything left behind by the people who were there before you, please bring it to me."

"To you? How come?" Jack had a feeling, but wanted confirmation before he just assumed anything.

"My name is Rally Dawson. My family used to own that house. Please, just let me know if you find anything."

"Alright. If I may ask, though, why did you move? You obviously didn't go very far."

Rally grit his teeth. "My big brother died-,"

" _Rally_." A man in a bandana appeared from the back room Rally had come from. "You don't know that." He turned to Jack. "I'm sor-,"

"I ' _don't know_ that'?! Are you kidding me? I _know_ my brother. I _know_ he would never just run away! You knew him! Do you really think that one little fight would make Yusei just up and ditch us all?"

"One, if I remember correctly, that wasn't just a 'little' fight. And two, we have someone here. We'll have this conversation later."

Rally glanced at Jack, tears in his eyes, then ducked his head and ran out of the room. "I'm really sorry you had to see that. He's been through a lot."

Jack nodded. "It's alright." Silently, though, he wondered what he and Crow had gotten themselves into.

Yyyyy

Sooo. Its been a while, hasn't it? Here's chapter two, though! Please tell me what you thought! And any ideas on what happened to Yusei? Or where Kalin is? :3


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm home!" Crow called, shutting the door behind him. "Jack? Yusei?"

"I'm here, but Jack's still out." Their resident ghost appeared from the kitchen. "How'd the job hunt go?"

"Great. I'm going to be the delivery boy for the local grocery store."

"Nice! Do you want to see what I learned today while you were gone?"

Not seeing the mischievous grin on Yusei's face, Crow turned to face him. "Sure." The smile left his face, though, when Yusei faded from view. "Yusei? _Yusei!_ Where are you?" He spun around trying to locate him. Sure Yusei seemed nice enough, but that didn't change the fact that he was a _ghost_.

"Boo!" Crow jumped and screamed, nearly having a heart attack when he felt a hand fall on his shoulder. "Don't _do_ that!"

The teen laughed lightly. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

"Yeah. Sure you couldn't."

"I'm sorry. I guess you really are scared of ghosts." Yusei rubbed the back of his neck.

"I wouldn't say _scared_ , exactly. I just don't like them." As soon as the words left Crow's mouth, he remembered who he was talking to. "Um, not that I don't like _you_ , just, you know, ghosts in general."

"I understand. I'm still getting used to this whole thing myself. Speaking of which, did you, uh, learn anything?" Yusei tried to keep the hope out of his voice, but Crow could still hear it.

"I'm sorry. I asked some people if they knew why the people who lived here before us had moved out, but they all told me it was it was for personal reasons. That's all I know."

The ghost teen let out a deep sigh, and then replied. "At least that means they're still alive. Thank you."

Crow smiled faintly, wondering what it must feel like to have so little knowledge of what had happened to himself that just hearing his family was still breathing came as such a relief.

Yyyyy

Jack, lost in thought at the moment as well, was making his way back to their house along the road. To one side, there was a beautiful, woodland park, while on the other, a horse pasture. He thought back to his encounter at the garage. That kid, Rally, was one of the brothers Yusei had asked them to look for, but he obviously wasn't with Kalin. From the sounds of it, that brother had taken off shortly after Yusei . . . died? Was that the right word anymore? He didn't look to be more than fifteen or sixteen years old, and appeared to be healthy. Well, aside from the whole 'ghost' situation. Point being, chances were becoming greater the longer he thought about it that Yusei hadn't just died of natural causes. And didn't ghosts who had died suddenly sometimes not even realize that they're dead and should, what did people call it? Cross over?

"Hey, space cadet!" Snapping back to reality, Jack noticed a girl astride a large horse on the other side of the fence. Her bright red was tied back in a ponytail and she wore a jean jacket than had obviously seen better years. "You're new, right? I'm Akiza. Welcome to the neighborhood." She dismounted and led her horse over to the fence.

"Thanks. My name's Jack." He held out his hand and she shook it firmly.

"You moved into the farmhouse up the road, didn't you?" She asked, losing a bit of her smile. "You better take care of that old place."

"We plan to, don't worry."

"Good. The boys that lived there before always made sure everything was in as good of condition as they could get it. I'd hate to see anything happen to it."

Deciding this might be as good a time as any, Jack decided to pry. "I heard from the people down at the garage that one of the boys disappeared."

Akiza snorted in annoyance. Or maybe anger. "Yusei. When he was here, everything was perfect. He was the kind of guy that didn't care if you were a stranger, or the mayor. If you were in trouble, he'd help you out. Then, one day, he was just gone. His phone was on the kitchen table, jacket was hung up by the door, but no one ever saw him again. People of this town have mixed ideas of what happened. Some think that he ran away from home, but others think there's no way he would just leave his family behind. The two of us were so close to being old enough to enter the partners Turbo Dueling circuit, too. There's no way he'd just leave it all behind." She smiled sadly and glanced at the ground. "Not to mention, we'd only just started dating. We had our first kiss the night before he . . . well, you know."

"I heard that he had some sort of fight-,"

"Yeah. Tank, Rally, Blitz, and Nerve really need to learn to quit talking in front of people. Police questioned everyone once Yusei had officially been deemed a missing person. Rally, his younger brother, had apparently witnessed an argument between Kalin and Yusei." She sighed. "Kalin's had a history of violence and anger problems, so everyone just jumped to the obvious conclusion."

"Was he interested in entering the dueling circuit, too? Like Yusei?" Jack inquired.

Akiza looked a bit confused, but answered, anyway. "Yeah, he was. Why?"

"Maybe he was jealous of you having Yusei as a partner? A guy with a history such as his, it's no great stretch of the imagination to see him getting physical in an argument. And, from what I've heard, Kalin left town soon after Yusei-,"

"Y'know, I saw you heading to town earlier with your brother." Akiza cut Jack off, tone dark and expression hard.

"Yeah, what about it?" Jack didn't like the feeling he was getting from her.

"You seemed to be having a bit of a disagreement. When I heard two new rookies were in town, I looked you up online. You seem to be the real powerhouse of the partnership. What's to stop you from realizing you could make it big as a solo duelist if only that brother of yours wasn't in the way?"

"What are you-,"

"What? You obviously don't get along with him. I saw you two just this morning. What's to stop you from doing away with him permanently?"

"Are you suggesting that I would kill my own brother?" The thought scared Jack, but not as much as the sure tone the cowgirl spoke with. "How dare you-,"

"How dare I _what_? Accuse you of what you just accused Kalin of? First off, you seem to be mistaken. Yusei wasn't going to be my partner. We may have been dating, but we recognized each other as rivals. Yusei was teamed up with Kalin." She patted her horse as it nibbled at the grass by her boots. "Yusei kept Kalin _sane_. There's no way he would ever hurt him. Kalin, before he got adopted and once after, had been sent to the facility. This is a small town, so people were wary of him. That turned to mocking once the other kids and teens realized he refused to fight back. Yusei wouldn't let anyone pick on his big brother, though. Even after their parents were killed in a car wreak, Yusei's top priority was keeping Kalin safe. From himself and everyone else. When he . . . left, everyone blamed Kalin. According to the townsfolk, he either killed him, or chased him off. No one was there to protect him anymore."

"You sound like you were pretty close to them. Couldn't you help?" Jack took a step forward, reaching out to pet the large animal now staring at him. He'd never show it, but he'd never actually touched a horse before and was a bit nervous to. When Akiza didn't respond, he turn his attention away from the horse and back to her to see a guilty look adorning her face.

"I . . . I got frustrated one day. Well, that's not the right word. Frustrated, mad, upset, confused, scared. Take your pick. I ended up losing it and chewing him out. I've known that family since Yusei and I were five, and I . . . I guess I knew all the buttons to push. I just didn't know who else to blame and took it all out on him. The next day, he packed up and left. He said he was going to track Yusei down and bring him back home. Rally almost got sent to an orphanage. Blitz, Nerve, and Tank have custody of him now, but are under tight supervision as they've always had trouble making ends meet."

"That- _Oww_!" Jack yelped and jerked his hand back. The horse, that vile animal, had just _bitten_ him!

"Rose! You know better." Akiza pulled the reins just enough so that it wasn't staring at him anymore. "I'd better finish exercising her. You keep what I said in mind. Better yet, keep your nose out of where it doesn't belong. That family's been through enough without some newcomers making a game out of playing detective." She placed a foot in the stirrup, swung up into the saddle, and rode off.

"Good-bye to you, too." Jack muttered, holding his hand and walking off.

Yyyyy

"Is he gone?" Akiza didn't even have to turn her head to know who was hiding in her bushes.

"Yes, Carly. He's gone. Though why you decided to get a crush on _that_ guy is beyond me."

A girl with large glasses and long, dark hair stood up, ignoring the leaves stuck all over her person. She had seen Jack Atlas walking up the rode and panicked, going for the nearest hiding spot. "He's a great duelist, and hot, and tall, and strong, and-,"

"A snoop." Akiza cut her off, removing the saddle from her horse. "You can fawn over him all you want, I know I can't stop you. But I don't like him."

Yyyyy

Well, this took longer than I thought to get out. I hope I'm not making this too obvious/confusing. Please drop a review telling me how I'm doing! I need to know for this story! And don't worry. Action is coming soon. :3


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